On Ms Lumley’s last day of her week-long trip, which encompassed visits to villages and towns across the country to meet Gurkha vetreans and their families, she was invited to the charity’s base in Kathmandu; a refuge and orphanage hidden away off a side street.
Run by Anuradha Koirala, a senior figure in Nepali society and known to everyone as Aunty, the charity not only cares for victims of trafficking but also actively combats it, raiding brothels across India and targeting known traffickers.
Run by Anuradha Koirala, a senior figure in Nepali society and known to everyone as Aunty, the charity not only cares for victims of trafficking but also actively combats it, raiding brothels across India and targeting known traffickers.
Aunty told the Kentish Express: “Every day we get nine or ten calls. We don’t go to the police. Instead we chase down the traffickers and we hand them over. There is no point in ringing Asian police if a woman goes missing, they will just say 'oh, she’s with her husband...
“The first thing the traffickers do is seperate mothers and children so the child doesn’t give trouble when their mum is with clients. We just recently saved four women from Pune [Indian city pronounced 'Poona’] and on the way back as normal people would turn up and say 'this is my daughter’ etc. It is a three-day train journey from Mumbai and we have to have police travelling with us all the way.
“The first thing the traffickers do is seperate mothers and children so the child doesn’t give trouble when their mum is with clients. We just recently saved four women from Pune [Indian city pronounced 'Poona’] and on the way back as normal people would turn up and say 'this is my daughter’ etc. It is a three-day train journey from Mumbai and we have to have police travelling with us all the way.
“But we now have 450 cases in the courts and recently 35 have been convicted, in some cases for 90 years.”Among the many childern at the refuge, many of those pictured are HIV positive. They were either born that way as a result of their mothers’ abuse in brothels, or contracted after being trafficked themselves.
Speaking to the assembled women, girls and boys at the refuge, Ms Lumley said: “When I got here today, Aunty asked me if I could be an ambassador for Maiti Nepal, and I’m pleased to say that I have no hesitation in saying yes, absolutely. You have all been so warm and welcoming to us.”
For Ms Lumley and her band of campaigners, now comes the hard work of raising the charity’s profile in the UK and finding ways to help.As Aunty said: “There is no point in people sending things like clothes, as we then have to bribe the post office to let us have them. We might as well just spend the money on new clothes instead of bribes.”
Speaking to the assembled women, girls and boys at the refuge, Ms Lumley said: “When I got here today, Aunty asked me if I could be an ambassador for Maiti Nepal, and I’m pleased to say that I have no hesitation in saying yes, absolutely. You have all been so warm and welcoming to us.”
For Ms Lumley and her band of campaigners, now comes the hard work of raising the charity’s profile in the UK and finding ways to help.As Aunty said: “There is no point in people sending things like clothes, as we then have to bribe the post office to let us have them. We might as well just spend the money on new clothes instead of bribes.”
Aunty told the Kentish Express: “Every day we get nine or ten calls. We don’t go to the police. Instead we chase down the traffickers and we hand them over. There is no point in ringing Asian police if a woman goes missing, they will just say 'oh, she’s with her husband...
“The first thing the traffickers do is seperate mothers and children so the child doesn’t give trouble when their mum is with clients. We just recently saved four women from Pune [Indian city pronounced 'Poona’] and on the way back as normal people would turn up and say 'this is my daughter’ etc. It is a three-day train journey from Mumbai and we have to have police travelling with us all the way.
“The first thing the traffickers do is seperate mothers and children so the child doesn’t give trouble when their mum is with clients. We just recently saved four women from Pune [Indian city pronounced 'Poona’] and on the way back as normal people would turn up and say 'this is my daughter’ etc. It is a three-day train journey from Mumbai and we have to have police travelling with us all the way.
“But we now have 450 cases in the courts and recently 35 have been convicted, in some cases for 90 years.”Among the many childern at the refuge, many of those pictured are HIV positive. They were either born that way as a result of their mothers’ abuse in brothels, or contracted after being trafficked themselves.
Speaking to the assembled women, girls and boys at the refuge, Ms Lumley said: “When I got here today, Aunty asked me if I could be an ambassador for Maiti Nepal, and I’m pleased to say that I have no hesitation in saying yes, absolutely. You have all been so warm and welcoming to us.”
For Ms Lumley and her band of campaigners, now comes the hard work of raising the charity’s profile in the UK and finding ways to help.As Aunty said: “There is no point in people sending things like clothes, as we then have to bribe the post office to let us have them. We might as well just spend the money on new clothes instead of bribes.”
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